Brett Bateman Is Paying Early Dividends in His MLB Debut

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, John_Havok said:

Not gonna lie, that's a stupid real name let alone nickname. Do better. 

I think you're going to be left disappointed.

[max silver]

14 hours ago, John_Havok said:

How they would unlock any real power from this guy is anyone's guess.

We can only hope spending an offseason working out at the PDC would add some much needed strength. He did manage to produce decent average exit velocities in the minor leagues but he's been waving a pool noodle in MLB so far. 

[John_Havok]

3 minutes ago, max silver said:

We can only hope spending an offseason working out at the PDC would add some much needed strength. He did manage to produce decent average exit velocities in the minor leagues but he's been waving a pool noodle in MLB so far. 

One can hope. right now he's basically a left handed Myles Straw-lite, if that's even possible. 

[max silver]

13 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

One can hope. right now he's basically a left handed Myles Straw-lite, if that's even possible. 

Bateman did manage to produce solid enough average exit velocities in AAA this season albeit with a low top end. I think his primary issue has been excessive chase up to this point and that could be behind the weak contact he's been producing. 

[John_Havok]

9 hours ago, max silver said:

Bateman did manage to produce solid enough average exit velocities in AAA this season albeit with a low top end. I think his primary issue has been excessive chase up to this point and that could be behind the weak contact he's been producing. 

That tracks with his savant page. Hes like Clement in that he can contact virtually everything but doesn't have that strike zone awareness, but Clement still has the ability to actually pull the ball in the air occasionally for power. Bateman is like... wait wait wait slash it the other way or up the middle.

It's not the worst approach for a guy with his toolset, but its not the kind that plays very well everyday in the lineup even with elite defense and baserunning. If he learned to drop a few deadly bunts down the 3b line or drag bunt agianst lefties like Varsho that would help open up the IF to slash more singles through in the short term while they get to hit the weights room and try to add some muscle mass.

[sliderguy35]

very surprised i havent seen the name andres gimenez brought up at all in this thread. feels like this board has been having the "how good of a defender do you have to be to make up for a bad offensive profile" conversation all season & the connotation of how its discussed seems very different when discussing bateman vs gimenez considering how similar the players are.

Gimenez's contract could be a factor, but its clear that bad contracts arent going to stop the jays from spending above the tax. Its hard for me as a fan to care about a players contract if the organization's decision making isnt really being impacted by it.

about bateman himself, i would be pretty concerned that based on what hes shown so far, he doesnt clear the 85ish wRC+ threshold that really awesome defenders need to still be valuable everyday players. the data has looked incredibly nasim nunez-ish so far

[John_Havok]

1 hour ago, sliderguy35 said:

very surprised i havent seen the name andres gimenez brought up at all in this thread. feels like this board has been having the "how good of a defender do you have to be to make up for a bad offensive profile" conversation all season & the connotation of how its discussed seems very different when discussing bateman vs gimenez considering how similar the players are.

Gimenez's contract could be a factor, but its clear that bad contracts arent going to stop the jays from spending above the tax. Its hard for me as a fan to care about a players contract if the organization's decision making isnt really being impacted by it.

about bateman himself, i would be pretty concerned that based on what hes shown so far, he doesnt clear the 85ish wRC+ threshold that really awesome defenders need to still be valuable everyday players. the data has looked incredibly nasim nunez-ish so far

Oh we've raked Gimenez over the coals in other threads enough. I think we've all.just become numb to the Gimenez situation and just take it for what it is; a situation that isnt going to change so at least bat him 9th where his crap bat won't hurt too much.

That's creating the problem with Bateman and some other guys... there's really only room one of those guys (maybe 2) on any team and we have like 8 of them (slight exaggeration for effect). 

They can't all hit 9th. 

[Pendleton]

 

[Forever92]

This management seems like good ability finding buried talent. Bateman not the first. Clement was good find. Pitchers they got for Clemens was good find. Lukes another one. 

[Forever92]

Bateman speed making a difference in this team. Win over Mariners was on him. 

[John_Havok]

On 8/25/2026 at 3:55 AM, Forever92 said:

This management seems like good ability finding buried talent. Bateman not the first. Clement was good find. Pitchers they got for Clemens was good find. Lukes another one. 

Clement played for Cleveland when Demarlo Hale was their bench coach right before Hale came back to join the jays. 

Atkins was the VP of player personnel when Lukes was drafted by Cleveland in 2015, right before he was hired as Jays GM. 

Might not be finding diamonds in the rough as much as already being liked then by those coaches and/or execs who left cleveland and came to TO. 

[Olerud363.354]

Batemen, Chandler Simpson, Myles Straw and Giminez all have similar expected numbers. 

But Batemen (very low sample size) and Simpson have batting averages like 60 or 70 points higher then expected Straw a bit lower then expected.  Fluke?  Or is there a reason?  

Batemen and Simpson are running about 20% ld, 60% gb, and 20% fb, while Straw and Giminez are more like 20, 40 40.   

Batemen and Simpson are also like 20% pull rate.   I wonder what their ground ball spray chart looks like.  Hitter's usually pull more grounders so it might be 33, 33, 33.  

Blazing Fast guys, no fly balls, evenly spraying ground balls so the shift doesn't work.  20% drives. 

.300 hitter for real with this profile?  Will the expected numbers even work for this type? 

Take home point: Batemen and Simpson both are hitting way less fly balls then Straw and Giminez. 

(I know Sliderguy has a list of minor league players with high ground ball and walk rates that are useless, but still have to wonder what Tampa Bay and Toronto are seeing to commit so much playing time to this profile and have it thus far work (could be fluke)). 

[Laika]

The oppo groundball by a fast LHB is a classic cheat code 

 

[SeranthonySantander]

Can we call this guy Bang Kwang?  He is half Thai.  It's the name of the notorious Thai prison.  Also known as Big Tiger.

[Forever92]

We certainly don't miss Varsho

[Forever92]

Probably be a Steven Kwan. 

[hanton]

Kwan one day might turn into Bateman. lol

[Omar]

Varsho OPS+ since joining the Astros is..............55

At the end of this season, the Astros will be like:

[John_Havok]

4 hours ago, Forever92 said:

Probably be a Steven Kwan. 

If Bateman can be Kwan with the bat, the trade was a massive heist.

I don't think he will be Kwan with the bat though, contact tool isnt on that level

[Forever92]

8 hours ago, hanton said:

Kwan one day might turn into Bateman. lol

Both single hitting, leftie centerfielder. Asian descent, similar size, range, speed. They have a lot of similarities 

[John_Havok]

12 hours ago, Forever92 said:

Both single hitting, leftie centerfielder. Asian descent, similar size, range, speed. They have a lot of similarities 

Kwan:

 

Bateman:

 

Bateman and the Jays wish he was Kwan level in the batters box. 

 

[43211234]

91 rest-of-season wRC+ projection from Steamer for Bateman now. Seems a bit optimistic but I'll take it.

 

 

This play yesterday was maybe the first one he "didn't make"

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=42ecb3d6-ebf5-3dbe-933b-69356f4e86fe

 

But then you see that it had a 10% catch probability according to Statcast. He got there and just boxed it up a bit. The defence looks completely legit. He's getting great jumps.

[max silver]

48 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Kwan:

 

Bateman:

 

Bateman and the Jays wish he was Kwan level in the batters box. 

 

 

48 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Kwan:

 

Bateman:

 

Bateman and the Jays wish he was Kwan level in the batters box. 

 

Something that's not shown in the Statcast dashboard is that Bateman has actually produced a better quality of contact than Kwan this season. When you examine xwOBAcon Bateman actually comes out ahead at .306 to .296. Kwan comes out so far ahead in most of the expected statistics because he possesses far better bat to ball skills and plate discipline and subsequently strikes out a lot less while taking more walks. I do hope that Bateman can tame down the chase a bit over time as he displayed far better plate discipline in the minor leagues.

[Laika]

Bateman walked more in the minors but I'm not sure how his chase rate compares 

[Olerud363.354]

Back in the day there was a guy called Brett Butler https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/butlebr01.shtml

Also a Brett.  Not a super low k rate (compared to the great hitters and the norms) but low.  

Don;t have stat casts data for him but I imagine a high ground ball rate, even spray chart, no pop-ups, super-fast. 

I don't think we are talking Kwan here.  We are talking a new type, new to this century I mean, a type that existed once but got extinct and maybe is going to come back,  Chandler Simpson, Batemen so far only the genius organizations have started to pick up on it.  

The key is speed and spraying the ground balls and no pop-ups. 

[james jones]

Bateman's BABIP currently sits at .429, so I think he will regress to the mean. I will enjoy his hot streak before it cools off though

[Bob_Gratton]

On 8/20/2026 at 10:15 AM, max silver said:

We can only hope spending an offseason working out at the PDC would add some much needed strength. He did manage to produce decent average exit velocities in the minor leagues but he's been waving a pool noodle in MLB so far. 

He doesn't really need more power, he need to continue hit the ball like he do so far, but he need to use his speed a lot more often, so many single and BB, will become double.

[Bob_Gratton]

13 minutes ago, james jones said:

Bateman's BABIP currently sits at .429, so I think he will regress to the mean. I will enjoy his hot streak before it cools off though

In school and minor leagues, he always had a good AVG, in MLB he can be a .275-.300+ AVG

[james jones]

1 minute ago, Bob_Gratton said:

In school and minor leagues, he always had a good AVG, in MLB he can be a .275-.300+ AVG

If he can have 100 wRC+ season with his good fielding, I will be happy.

[Brownie19]

It's great to see that Bateman has 95 percentile arm strength. It was brutal watching post surgery Varsho and his limp d*ck arm.